The 8th edition of the MTB Race was held in the woods of Haltern Flaesheim were unscathed by Hurricane Christof, which devastated many forests in North Rhine-Westphalia on the Whitsun weekend.Werner Schulze-Lünzum und Klaus Hülsmann created a demanding track around the infamous Dachsberg showing a lot of breathtaking sections.
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Right from the start both german top drivers, Ben Zwiehoff (Bergamont Hayes Factory Team) and Markus Schulte-Lünzum (Focus XC Team) took the lead. From lap to lap, the gap between both of them and the remaining competitors increased. Both fought head to head. Right at then end, the local hero Markus Schulte-Lünzum took the better end in the finishing sprint and ended up first. Ben Zweihoff took comfort in beeing NRW champion U23. Gerrit Rosenkranz (Focus Rapiro Racing) finished in third place in front of Erik Gron (Team Bar End).
In the womens race, Nina Wrobel was able to to prove her strength against strong dutch competition. She won her first race for her new team Merida Schulte ahead of Annemarie Worst (Team Giant) and Annefleur Kalvenhaar (UCI MTB FOCUS CX TEAM)